SportAccord Mind Games with all-star field to play rapid, blindfold and blitz

12/13/2012 – SportAccord Mind Games will be held in Beijing, China between the 12th of December and 20th December 2012. The World Mind Games consists of 5 disciplines: chess, bridge, draughts (checkers), go, and xiangqi (Chinese chess). This year brings an all-star field of men and women to play rapid, blindfold and blitz. It all started with a breathtaking opening ceremony.

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SportAccord Mind Games with all star field to play rapid, blindfild and blitz

SportAccord Mind Games will be held in Beijing, China between the 12th of December and 20th December 2012.

The World Mind Games was held for the first time in 2008 and consisted of 5 disciplines: chess, bridge, draughts (checkers), go, and xiangqi (Chinese chess).

Since the last year the World Mind Games organized and held by a famous and respectable organization called SportAccord. SportAccord is the umbrella organization for both Olympic and non-Olympic sports as well as a major organizers of conferences and sporting events.

Though chess is certainly one of the prominent games of the event, with many stars...

...it is hardly the only as can be seen here with top players in bridge and Go.

The elite selection of invited participants and solid prizes are important features of the event.

FIDE president Kirasn Ilyumzhinov and local dignitaries at the opening ceremony

This year the top seeds in the men section are Levon Aronian (former World Blitz Champion and World no.2), Teimour Radjabov, Sergey Karjakin (World Rapid Champion 2012), former World Champion Veselin Topalov, Alexander Grischuk (World Blitz Champion 2012) and other GMs rated over 2700 Elo.

The strongest Chinese player, Wang Hao, who also became the winner in a rapid tournament of the Mind Games 2011, will also take part in the tournament this year.

Round 1 on 2012/12/14 at 14:00

Bd

SNo.

Name

Pts

Res.

Pts

Name

SNo.

1

1

GM

Karjakin Sergey

0

0

GM

Leko Peter

9

2

10

GM

Morozevich Alexander

0

0

GM

Aronian Levon

2

3

3

GM

Grischuk Alexander

0

0

GM

Giri Anish

11

4

12

GM

Jobava Baadur

0

0

GM

Kamsky Gata

4

5

5

GM

Mamedyarov Shakhriyar

0

0

GM

Fressinet Laurent

13

6

14

GM

Bologan Viktor

0

0

GM

Nakamura Hikaru

6

7

7

GM

Radjabov Teimour

0

0

GM

Wang Hao

15

8

16

GM

Ding Liren

0

0

GM

Ivanchuk Vassily

8

Rounds start at 1 AM New York time, 7 AM Paris/Berlin, and 2 PM local time.

The strongest women chess players in the World will play in the Women’s event - among them former World Champions Hou Yifan, Antoaneta Stefanova, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Zhu Chen, as well as other top-players. It is also worth mentioning, that Alexandra Kosteniuk was the winner of the 1st Mind Games in 2008 – in blitz and rapid respectively and she also got another gold in rapid in 2011.

Two former world champions: GM Antoaneta Stefanova and
GM Alexandra Kosteniuk

Hou Yifan became the strongest in blitz and blindfold in 2011.

Round 1 on 2012/12/14 at 14:00

Bd

SNo.

Name

Pts

Res.

Pts

Name

SNo.

1

1

GM

Koneru Humpy

0

0

GM

Zhao Xue

9

2

10

IM

Zatonskih Anna

0

0

GM

Yifan Hou

2

3

3

GM

Lahno Kateryna

0

0

GM

Zhu Chen

11

4

12

IM

Paehtz Elisabeth

0

0

GM

Stefanova Antoaneta

4

5

5

GM

Muzychuk Anna

0

0

GM

Cmilyte Viktorija

13

6

14

GM

Danielian Elina

0

0

GM

Kosteniuk Alexandra

6

7

7

GM

Cramling Pia

0

0

GM

Socko Monika

15

8

16

IM

Khotenashvili Bela

0

0

GM

Harika Dronavalli

8

Rounds start at 1 AM New York time, 7 AM Paris/Berlin, and 2 PM local time.

The Opening Ceremony

There is something about the Chinese in their opening ceremonies, in which dance...

...colors, choreography...

... and even martial arts come together in a unique and breathtaking shape.

Their wonderful use of light is also something to admire

If the Beatles had been female and Chinese, this is what they might have looked like

With no end to creativity, even shadow puppets are a part of the spectacle

If all opening ceremonies in the world were like this, chess would be more popular than football!

See also

11/28/2018 – The moment we've all been waiting for! Live games (for Premium members) from the 2018 World Championship match in London. Every two games will be followed by a rest day until Game 12 (if necessary) on November 26th which will be preceded by an additional rest day. All rounds start at 15:00 UT (London time) / 16:00 CEST / 10:00 EST. If needed there would be a rapid tiebreak match on Wednesday, November 28th. | Photos: Patricia Claros

See also

8/27/2018 – Live games and commentary from Saint Louis! Fabiano Caruana, Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian tied for first place, while Caruana also tied for fourth place in the Grand Chess Tour standings with Wesley So, forcing a playoff match to be held on Tuesday. | Graphic: Saint Louis Chess Club

Video

Former World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik liked to play the French and once described it as a 'difficult and dangerous opening'. But in this 60 minutes video IM Andrew Martin suggests an aggressive and little-used idea of the renowned attacking player GM Viktor Kupreichik to counter the French: 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Be3!?. Andrew Martin uses the games of Kupreichik to show why this line could catch many French aficionados unprepared and is very dangerous for Black. Attacking players will love this line and the unusual complications that it promotes.

"Simple yet aggressive!" Enjoy this new exciting DVD by Simon Williams. Let the famouns Grandmaster from England show you how to gain a very exciting yet well founded opening game with the London System (1.d4 d5 2.Bf4).